Ocho Update

March 26, 2008 at 12:30 pm | Article by Paul Hickey |

Ocho Update Well, Chad freaking Johnson won’t shut up, and quite frankly I’m getting very sick of it. Apparently, he recently made a comment to a news outlet that he’ll play in the Arena League next season if the Bengals don’t trade him.

Ocho, if you’re going to talk, make sure you do your research - the Arena League season starts following the Super Bowl, so you wouldn’t actually be playing from September through December. Anyway, Marvin Lewis has already come out and said that the Bengals will not trade Chad, drawing some parallels to Kobe Bryant’s situation with the Los Angeles Lakers, referencing a precedent for how situations like this can be handled. Thinking back to last season, Bears LB Lance Briggs made a comment that he would never play another game for the Bears. Less than 365 days later, he had a new long term deal with Chicago. Not long ago, number 85 was fun to listen to - now it’s just getting old. They’re saying they won’t trade you, now shut up, and go play for your team - there’s no money in the Arena League.

Texans RB Update - The Texans added new offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, a former implementer of the Denver Broncos successful zone blocking running game. Word is that the Texans, who currenly have Chris Brown, Ahman Green and Darius Walker on the roster at RB, won’t take an RB in the first two rounds of the 2008 NFL Draft. Well, they better be darn sure that they can find someone to carry the load in the third round then, because there is cause for concern in the backfield right now. Before I bash them, I guess this year is a good one to try that strategy, considering there are RBs like Rutgers’ Ray Rice, Texas’ Jamaal Charles, Tulane’s Matt Forte’, Michigan’s Mike Hart and Georgia Tech’s Tashard Choice - a favorite of one of our sources - likely to be available later on. Even though for the moment this news seems like it would be good for the fantasy value of Green and Brown - don’t get too excited. Neither one of them will stay healthy this season, and if by some strange occurrence they do, they’ll be low end RB3 options at best. The real money will be made if the Texans do get a gem in the late rounds and fantasy owners can snag him in their late rounds. We’ll help you monitor the situation, of course, as it could definitely produce a Maurice Jones-Drew circa 2006 sleeper.

Seahawk Smarts - I want to take a moment and praise Seahawks main decision maker Tim Ruskell. The man has locked up two key defensive players in recent weeks, signing young LB Lofa Tatupu to an extension, and investing in CB Marcus Trufant for five more seasons after franchising him in February. Why more teams don’t use this strategy is beyond me, but it makes a ton of sense. Kudos to Ruskell for retaining the team’s strongest players, and adding Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett to the weakening backfield. The Seahawks should actually be one of the most improved teams heading into 2008.